Hiding in the Absolute

Last night I listened to an Adyashanti satsang called “The Three Phases of Awakening” and in his talk, he brought up some traps which really resonate with me, traps which I’ve found myself getting caught in.

The trap is that once you get a taste of the Absolute and realize that all is perfect, then who cares about the world of the Relative because it’s all perfect anyways. Who cares because it’s all an illusion? At this point, you even have the choice to sit back let the body waste away and not really engage the world because hey, it’s already perfect. What more could I do?

Let’s examine this together and see exactly what’s going on.

Fear of Life

Many of us have a fear of death, yet there’s another fear that’s not talked about as often: fear of life. For some people, fear of life is even more intense than fear of death.

It’s like when we’re born, there’s all these bright lights, people pulling us this way or pushing us that way, lots of commotion, and then we get slapped. What an entrance. Perhaps there’s a part of us that says, “Man, I don’t like life. It was better before I was born. All of the sudden I’m suffering.”

It’s almost like some people don’t like life right from the get-go and this never quite heals.

Escaping Life

This is a very common experience for people since life can be so unpleasant. Some people will try to escape life through drugs, alcohol, music, sex, food, sleeping, or whatever other distraction works for them.

Perhaps people get into spirituality with the hope that when they become enlightened, life will suddenly become magical and wonderful. It will be the solution to all my problems!

So they take this (inaccurate) idea with them, proceed down the spiritual path, and eventually they find themselves abiding in the Absolute reality.

Hiding in the Absolute

In the Absolute, everything is as it is. Perfection is. What we call “real life” is seen to be totally an illusion and nothing really happens. Everything just is. It’s pure beingness. There’s nothing we could do to make life better or worse. Even the Hitler’s and diseases of the world are seen to be part of the perfection.

Now it is true that the world we live in is illusion and ultimately unreal, but there is still an element of experiential reality to it, is there not? It’s like, no matter how enlightened you are, if you get hit in the head with a hammer, it’s still gonna hurt.

The understanding that this world is an illusion and not real is an excellent instructional understanding, but there’s still a sense of practicality that needs to be integrated alongside this understanding. This is the part where we become “in this world, but not of it.” Rather than abiding in the Absolute as a way to escape the life of suffering, we recognize that All That Is INCLUDES the world of the relative, illusion or not.

The Second Question

The primary question in spirituality is “Who am I?” in the many forms it takes.

Once you find an answer to the question, if an answer even can be found, great. Well done.

If a person realizes that they are Love, for example, but it’s never expressed in their life and they’re an arrogant, rude spiritual person, it’s clear that there’s still something missing. Not only do they give spirituality itself a bad name, but there is still something missing, as if they Love they now see themselves to be has not fully integrated within their entire being.

So the second question after “Who am I?” is “How then shall I live?”

The second question is tightly linked to the first, an expression of the first in physical manifestation.

Love is the Expression of the Absolute in the world of the Relative

Trees are consciousness. Rocks are consciousness. Animals are consciousness. Humans are consciousness too, but what’s so special about humans is that we have the capacity to be conscious about the fact that we’re conscious!

Big deal? What importance does this have?

Well, in the Absolute, everything is Love. I’m sure you’ve heard it said before that God is Love and yes, this is true.

Now what we have as physical human beings is basically the Absolute forgetting what it is and pretending to be something else in the world of the Relative.

It doesn’t take anything special to be loving, no tricks or techniques. It’s simply a connection to your true nature and an expression of that without resistance.

What we see in humans is basically the Absolute seeking to emerge through the mask of the Relative. It’s a lot like a determined weed seeking to push through a slab of concrete to reach the sun. It’s determined to punch its way through.

The Love that we all seek in life is the Love that we are. The God that we desire to experience Oneness with is the God that we are. The enlightened being that we are searching for is the enlightened being that we are. The seeker is the one being sought. Hence the call to “Look within.” This is the only place you will truly find what you are searching for. You are that.

So the question “How then shall I live?” is pointing us towards this understanding that here in the Relative, what we are experiencing is our own natural desire to be the Self, to experience the Absolute. If we recognize ourselves to be One, or Love, or Peace, or whatever else, how we live is our physicalized expression of that which we are.

Integrate the Relative with the Absolute

Even after awakening and after realization, there’s still places the ego can get stuck in. In fact, after awakening, the traps are even more dangerous, like this one we’re examining here.

So rather than attempting to escape the suffering of life by hiding out from it and continuously looking within to the Source, eventually awakening leads us to the realization that the Infinite includes even the world of the Relative. Rather than going purely within and experiencing the emptiness and nothingness, the Self expands outward to encompass the All.

What we call “real life” is meant to be a place for us to express who we really are. It’s not a place to obtain get approval or a sense of security. It’s truly a place of creative expression, a place for Creation itself to unfold, for you and I to experience ourselves as who we truly are, to come to know our true nature, to remember.

So play with life. Enjoy it. Jump in with both feet. I’m speaking also to my self here with these words.

Remember who you are.

Then experience it and express it in the relative.

This is the dance between the Relative and the Absolute.

Realization happens in the Absolute.

Expression and experience occurs in the Relative.

You are neither, yet you are both. You are nothing, yet simultaneously everything.

Thank you for being you. Now live it and BE it!